Mon Feb 18, 2008 at 19:15:01 PM EST

MISSION STATEMENT:We are a community committed to advancing the progressive agenda through open and civil discourse on issues, by advocating action when necessary, and by supporting strong progressive down-ticket candidates.

We welcome discussion on a range of progressive issues. We believe in bold, transformative change. We reject the notions of baby steps, moving to the center, bipartisanship, and letting corporations run our government. The current system is out of balance, rigged to favor the powerful interests, unable to hear the voices of those without power. We believe in public financing of all federal elections as a cornerstone to achieve change.

Our government and Constitution belong to the People, who should be protected more than profits. Equality and economic justice are cornerstones of the progressive movement. Universal heath care is a fundamental right, and poverty a fundamental wrong, here and globally. We believe that work should trump wealth, and that a progressive movement must include the working class, unions, and people from diverse backgrounds in all 50 states.

We encourage intelligent discussion of progressive issues, and substantive communication based on the exchange of ideas. We discourage attempts to define politics as a sporting or money event. Candidates should prevail on their character, honesty and the power of their ideas and plans to effectuate progressive change, not by how much money they can raise, their stature in the polls, silly gaffes, or the whims of punditry.

Our Origins:ProgressiveBlue.com began as EENRblog.com, formed by a group who had worked together during the John Edwards presidential campaign creating a nightly diary series known as the "Edwards Evening News Roundup" on DailyKos. After our candidate dropped out in early 2008, a number of us wanted to continue promoting the progressive issues and policy options that had brought us together. Our blog's original acronym—Edwards Evolution, Next Revolution—reflected both our origin and our forward-looking efforts.

No really, who are you?Progressive Blue is run by a collective of editors. While we each have our individual strengths (and I'm sure weaknesses as well), we work together to further the purpose of this blog.

Here is the roster of the team we affectionately call The Editorial Board (as of July 2011):

Mehitabel– (currently on leave) is a lifelong West Coaster currently residing in San Diego, California. She is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and UCLA. She has chosen to devote her career to working in mission-driven, nonprofit organizations. She was raised by Goldwater Republicans who kept an interesting mix of books in the house and let her read anything she wanted. Consequently, some of her favorite childhood books included Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Devil's Dictionary, and Atlas Shrugged. She credits Ayn Rand and Ambrose Bierce, in part, for turning her into a bleeding-heart, pinko-socialist liberal. She also credits Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Her mother often wondered, aloud, what went wrong. Mehitabel's political role model is Bernie Sanders. She is an advocate for the most vulnerable members of society, including children, elders, and victims of abuse and violence. She is also a passionate animal lover and animal welfare advocate, and serves as the human companion to three cats.

priceman– As I became inspired by Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower in TX, progressive populist issues led me to get involved in the 2008 Democratic primary supporting John Edwards's platform of fair trade, a public option, and holding corporate interests accountable. After president Obama won the primary, I supported him and worked for his campaign because he adopted some of these tenets (or so he said). I remember his campaign promises from then and I will not stop talking about them now. I will not apologize for being progressive and populist and neither will anyone on this great site.

We cannot pretend electing a politician was enough and we must hold him accountable. I write about economic issues among other things in a post Keynesian mindset. President Obama and Democrats in Congress have failed to reign in our TBTF financial system and support health care reform as we only got Romneycare or Dolecare from 1994. This is not enough and we are also suffering form lack of stimulus and the effective multipliers a full employment strategy within a stimulus would bring because the president did not even try to go bigger and listen to Christina Romer who wanted 1.2 trillion without weak stimulating tax cuts.

Poverty is rising, so is the trade deficit which is the only deficit that matters. We cannot ignore the jobs crisis in this country either. We must change how we measure economic performance. GDP is not a good metric or people would actually feel this so called recovery on Main Street.

This is what I write about.

liberaldemdave– liberaldemdave is a lifelong liberal whose guiding principal is the Matthew 25 version of "WWJD" (feed the poor, nurse the sick, care for the "least of these"). In other words, I am a liberal because of my faith, not in spite of my faith. As such, I am most interested in being an advocate for why people of faith, particularly from the Christian tradition, should not only be welcomed but encouraged to participate in our democracy based on more issues than God, guns and gays...and a woman's right to choose. (And I freely admit that I am unabashedly pro-choice and support sensible gun legislation). I am also a long-term AIDS thriver/survivor of 15 years who is the primary caregiver for my spouse of almost 18 years (and soon to be husband of 1 year) and that gives me great insight into and passion for GLBT issues, health care, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, etc.

I enter a 2-year licensed ministry program through the domination I am affiliated with, the United Church of Christ, on 4 June 2011, and intend to diary on this journey as it relates to issues of importance to progressives/liberals.

Colorado is the Shiznit– Colorado is the Shiznit is a Democratic Socialist from the great state of (I know!) Colorado. Although she was born and bred in the Land of Cheese, a.k.a. "Wisconsin", she now considers herself a proud Coloradan and lives in the liberal bastion that is Boulder County. Shiz has a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance from a Southern university and, like most real-world music majors, does nada with her degree, except sing recreationally and annoy those within spitting distance on a semi-regular basis. Shiz is the proud mother to a young daughter and, though she worked in the Human Resources field for years, now finds herself in the Class of the Perpetually Unemployed. Her hobbies include reading crap novels, watching Criminal Minds marathons, mountain air, hiking, making fun of Republicans, shaking her moneymaker, foaming at the mouth, and fried chicken.

Cassiodorus was being groomed to join the middle classes at the tail end of the heyday of the capitalist system when he graduated from his prep high school and went to the University of California at Santa Cruz in September of 1980 and became politically radicalized, such as it was, while breathing deeply of the atmosphere of Santa Cruz, California. He then developed a DIY (do it yourself) consciousness and at some later point got himself a real university education, so that he could have a bit of flexibility in not choosing job situations he might dislike. In his current role as an ecosocialist he feels that he is learning interesting things at a very late hour of life. He currently lives in southern California. He has so far published over 200 diaries at DailyKos.com and lives lightly on the Earth while participating in Food Not Bombs.

funluvn1– funluvn1 is a displaced So. Californian who currently resides in the progressive bastion of the Peoples Republic of Wake County, North Carolina. A lifelong Democrat and progressive, he began paying attention to politics way back when he was just a wee one and George McGovern was running for President. Having listened to his parents discussing the positive and common sense message that McGovern espoused, he was hooked into believing reality was where the action was. His college years at Cal State Long Beach were spent learning things that he never used in a professional capacity like English Literature and being a supporter of Governor Moonbeam, aka Jerry Brown, who was given this not-so-descriptive moniker by Mike Royko of The Chicago Tribune because of his proposed establishment of a state space academy and the purchasing of a satellite that would be launched into orbit to provide emergency communications for the state; a proposal similar to one that was indeed eventually adopted. As of November 2, 2010, seventeen years since he left office as California' Governor, it looks like California's Governor Elect Jerry Brown had the last laugh.

Currently working as a project manager for software implementation, funluvn1 lives with his wife, their rescue and Ragdoll cats and enjoys baiting Conservatives, loud music and playing with his two toddling granddaughters.

edgery– edgery was in on the founding of ProgressiveBlue from day one, stepping down in September 2010; she continues to lurk in the corners. As a committed progressive DOFH feminist, she's been known to take contrarian positions from time to time but remains optimistic that idealism with a healthy dose of reality will win. Onward and Upward!

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So please, enjoy yourselves and let the discussion begin. We plan to keep fighting until Real Change becomes a reality, and you are invited to participate.